Melissa Harris-Perry left MSNBC in a blaze of glory.

Which, considering how the network has treated her over the past few months, speaks volumes about her character under duress.

MSNBC severed ties with Harris-Perry after she published an open letter last Friday detailing the ways in which the network was shutting out her show during election season. In exit negotiations yesterday, the network tried to get her to sign a non-disparagement clause, which would have restricted her comments about MSNBC to those that were “positive or in her academic work.” Harris-Perry flatly refused, sacrificing her exit package for freedom of speech.

She promptly utilized this freedom to criticize the lack of diversity at MSNBC (which has a history of canceling shows of other hosts of color). Harris-Perry told CNN Money, “They wanted us to cover politics in the narrowest sense. I told my team, we can’t allow our own show to go off-air and then provide racial cover by having me continue to host the show so people see the little black girl up there.”

While Harris-Perry’s sharp analysis and criticism will be sorely missed from the MSNBC roster, it will hardly disappear from the world. After all, she is a boss.